Tafamidis and quality of life in people with transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy in the study ATTR-ACT: A plain language summary

This plain language summary describes the results of a study called ATTR-ACT, which was published in the American Journal of Cardiology. In ATTR-ACT, researchers looked at the effects of tafamidis treatment in people with transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (called ATTR-CM for short). Tafamidis is currently available in the USA and other countries as an oral treatment for adults with ATTR-CM. In ATTR-ACT, 441 people with ATTR-CM from 13 different countries took either tafamidis or placebo by mouth for 30 months. First, researchers looked at the effects of tafamidis on the risk of death and hospitalization due to heart problems between the start and the end of the study; they found that these risks were about one-third lower with tafamidis compared with placebo. As described in this summary, researchers also looked at the effects of tafamidis on people’s heart failure symptoms, quality of life, and general health over the 30-month study. People who took part in ATTR-ACT rated these effects using questionnaires filled out before, during, and after the study. More people who took tafamidis saw improvement or no change in their heart failure symptoms and quality of life than people who took placebo. In addition, compared with people taking placebo, people taking tafamidis had less worsening of their general health during the study. These results show the benefits of tafamidis in reducing the declines in quality of life and health that often occur with this debilitating disease.